The present invention relates to a waterproof encasement for sanitary pads, and, more particularly, to a disposable encasement for temporarily converting the regular undergarment into a sanitary panty or stress incontinence garment. The invention further relates to such an encasement which is designed for the easy insertion and removal of the absorbent pad while securely retaining the pad within the encasement.
As used in this disclosure, sanitary pads and sanitary garments include absorbent pads and garments for use by men and women suffering from urinary incontinence and women during postpartum menstruation as well as women during monthly menstruation.
Numerous designs for waterproof encasements have been proposed such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,352,356 to Tong, 4,044,769 to Papajohn, 2,977,957 to Clyne, and 2,985,170 to Title. However, one feature which all these prior art references have in common is that the encasement is formed as part of the sanitary garment. Therefore, women in particular, must have either two sets of undergarments, one for use during menstruation and one set to be used during other times, or must wear a regular set of undergarments over a sanitary napkin holder such as shown in Clyne, U.S. Pat. No. 2,977,957.
Newman, U.S. Pat. No. 2,551,691, discloses a sanitary napkin having a waterproof cover. The top portion of the cover has an opening to expose the sanitary napkin. However, the top and bottom halves of the waterproof covering are not secured together to form a waterproof fold. At each end of the covering there is an opening for passage of the sanitary napkin securing tabs. Furthermore, the napkin and covers are not designed to be secured to a regular undergarment but to be held in place by securing the tabs to clips on a sanitary belt.
In most of the piror art encasement designs, a major portion of the absorbent pad is covered by the waterproof front panel of the encasement. This was necessary to insure retention of the absorbent pad within the encasement.
One exception of this general design is the Tong urinary incontinence garment in which a pouch is formed by sewing a water penetrable panel to the crotch area of the garment. However, the only access to the absorbent pad is from one end of the panel and therefore it is difficult to insert a pad into the pouch and it is an unpleasent task to reach into the pouch to remove a urine-soaked pad.
Another exception is the disposable pad disclosed in Mammarella, U.S. Pat. No. 3,108,599, in which the pad is secured to the undergarment by four triangular pockets sewn to the crotch of the undergarment. The corners of the pad are inserted into the triangular pockets. However, the corners of the pad may easily slip out of the pockets. Further, the securing means is part of the undergarment and not part of an encasement as in the present invention. In fact the Mammarella pad does not include an encasement.